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Turnout Rates Among the Rich and Poor

- July 5, 2013

A while ago Andy asked “Is India unique in having higher voter turnout among the poor than the middle class and rich?“. I recently attended the 2013 International Society for New Institutional Economics Annual Conference, and just watched a very interesting presentation by Columbia University political scientist Kimuli Kasara on “When do the Rich Vote Less than the Poor and Why? Explaining Turnout Inequality across the World”. The full paper she presented is available here, but the following figure caught my eye as an answer to Andy’s question:

turnout

Note that although it does not include India, the figure (which can be enlarged by clicking on it) does provide some comparative context. Note as well the role of the US – and, interestingly, Poland and Zambia – as outliers in terms of having over-representation of the well-off citizens among voters.

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